Grand Gravy
“Critics of ultra-violent video games will not be the only ones watching carefully as the latest installment of the Grand Theft Auto series is released tomorrow,” writes the Guardian‘s Bobbie Johnson. This because “the suits in Hollywood are anxious that it may dent the profits of their summer blockbusters.
“Grand Theft Auto IV, the latest in the 18-rated crime series, which sees players take on the role of eastern European tough guy Niko Bellic, is expected to break sales records. Millions of fans of the GTA series worldwide are expected to shell out about 40 quid each for the game, making it one of the biggest moneyspinners in the industry.
“The latest instalment is likely to sell 6 million copies in its first week of release, which would make in excess of $1 billion profit for its creators and cement it as one of the biggest entertainment franchises of any kind.
“While the series is known for causing controversy, thanks to its adult content and uncompromising attitude, it has become a favorite of gamers who lust after its realistic graphics and tongue-in-cheek humor. The effect on the games industry has been dramatic, with more than 70 million copies sold in just over a decade.”
The last time I was excited by the prospect of playing a video game was when my dad took me to Hong Kong in the early 80s. I remember all of the men standing at their machines, smoking, and wondering if I should smoke too, if it would help improve my enjoyment of Space Ace. I did not. And I played all night, until my dad came to get me. When I asked him why he was so late he told me that he would’ve come sooner but the prostitute arrived at the hotel room an hour late. Then he gave me some more money, lit a cigarette and watched me wait in line to play a game I never got to play.
Any effect on the box office will be negligable. Hard-core gamers will have had a few days to sate themselves. And it’s a game that takes 30-80 hours or so to play through. It won’t be played through in a sitting, so there’s no reason to think they won’t go to the movies, just like any other time.
Six years ago I played Grand Theft Auto: Vice City religiously when I got home from work, probably because I was driving over 150 miles a day around Los Angeles as a PA. It was the ultimate form of stress relief.
However, I have no interest in this new game, and in gaming in general.
Garbage, garbage, garbage. No evidence exists that video game usage affects opening weekend grosses. It’s just an excuse if the movie opens soft.
I don’t know who came up with this story angle that’s been shooting around for a few weeks, probably Rockstar, but a video game won’t dent a movies’ release. The big word was that it would hurt Iron Man. Any geek, like myself, bought GTA 4 and will still catch Iron Man this weekend. Not since Goldeneye has a video game been able to keep people plugged to their couch oblivious to the outside world.*
*That said, I know nothing of WoW players. I don’t even count that as a game as much as a form of legal, digitized crack.
Movie theaters are the past and only show the studio cut of films. true cinema people wait until a dvd of the directors cut has been released and watch it at home. I watch all my films that way. and they are mostly rediscovered older films
as I am no longer in demographic for new films. I find sad that I just got to be to old for Hollywood
This school of thought was born last October, when The Heartbreak Kid failed to open huge, and the industry folk all claimed it was because Halo 3 came out, distracting the already easily distracted core audience for the latest Farrelly-Stiller outing. (Not the fact that the movie kinda sucked. Though the last line is pretty fantastic).
As a complete dork, I have purchased both the game AND my tickets for Iron Man. (11PM, Arclight). And I will probably wear an Aquaman shirt, to confuse people.
Actionman- as a man currently in the same situation you found yourself in 6 years ago, I must say I play the game solely to obey traffic laws and let people pass me.
And Goldeneye is pretty much the greatest game ever, no matter what. After Ms. Pac Man, maybe.
only a matter of time before there is a GTA movie and worlds collide!
… but seriously, as someone who was only intermittently interested in previous installments, this game is PHENOMENAL, and a MUCH more satisfying slice of entertainment than anything hollywood has produced thus far this year.
It’s amazing to me that they charge 60 bucks for games like GTA IV and Halo 3. Does anyone know how much of a markup this is? I know there’s a lot of R&D on a big game like this, but 60 bucks? It’s like buying a bottle of champagne at a strip club.
Winchester: Whether or not the movie sucked wouldn’t have hurt it as much as the studio’s choice to cast an unattractive chick in the role.
David: There’s already been a GTA movie: It’s called Scarface.
dangovich: For a new system, that’s not really unexpected. Back in the days of carts, you’d get games which went for as much as $80-$100.
dang — it is EXACTLY like buying a bottle of champagne at a strip club!…. hope you don’t mind me borrowing your analogy (it’s pretty brilliant) but i just stuck it in an email to a friend…..
I’m going to be taking a break from my GTA4 game playing to go see Iron Man, and everyone else at work who bought the game is doing the same.
The guy from the guardian fails basic math:
“The latest instalment is likely to sell 6 million copies in its first week of release, which would make in excess of $1 billion profit for its creators and cement it as one of the biggest entertainment franchises of any kind”
If we take his word that the game is selling for an average of “40 quid” (80 bucks… but I got mine for 60), then it would make like 480 million in GROSS income. And the game’s actual profit; when factoring in the 75 to 100 million in development costs, another 25 million in promotion or so, a crapload of money for music licensing, and the fact that retails get a huge chunk of the total cost, leaves a profit of, well, considerable less than $1 billion. It’s amazing the numbers that supposededly good reporters throw around…
I want to play it, but I hate hearing Russians speak.
still trying to pick a system anyway. seems like its a wash.
what GTA4 might do is boost those Fandango ticket buying services since folks don’t want to show up at the theater and discover their screening has been sold out.
If anything takes a bite out of a blockbuster’s box office, it’s DVD. People aren’t going to see a film more than once because they know if they wait, they’ll buy it in a few months – with bonus features.
What killed the Heartbreak Kid was it opened on the same weekend that people realized they had lives that weren’t worth wasting on two hours of unfunny Stiller.
Stevie has an issue with digital film. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117984905.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
Or maybe the movie industry should try to up the ante by making more violent films. That the fourth Die Hard was a PG-13 is the ultimate sign that the R-rated action movie is pretty much dead. Movies like Saw and Hostel are pretty gory, yeah, but they’re silly horror fantasies that no-one takes seriously. Every action movie should be as violent as GTA4. Or The Departed.
Bad Boys 2 was essentially GTA
MilkMan: Best. Comment. Ever.
I bought GTA IV at Best Buy for $60, and it came with a $10 gift card as part of the promotion. So, I paid $50 total. So far, I’ve put about 20 hours into the game and I’ve barely scratched the surface of the story and areas to visit in the game. I tend to do a lot of exploring in games, especially one as open and massive as this one, so I expect to get at least 80 hours of quality entertainment out of it, but I’ll probably end up with even more time than that.
How much money would it cost me to get 80 hours of very enjoyable quality entertainment from Hollywood at the multiplex these days? A hell of a lot more than $50, that’s for sure.
“still trying to pick a system anyway. seems like its a wash.”
The PS3 version has slightly better graphics, if that matters to you.
More importantly, that version doesn’t have load times between missions, which the 360 version does.
Oh, and Crank did a hell of a job of creating a film version of a GTA rampage.
PS3 also plays Blu-Rays, and now has internal decoding capability for all of the major hi-def lossless audio formats. So, not a wash at all really. It was an easy decision as far as I’m concerned.
Since when did a movie sucking have any effect on its performance opening weekend?
Btw- The Heartbreak Kid did not suck. Though it could have used an editor, It was quite funny at times, and had the best ending of any studio comedy this decade. And it did quite well at the foreign box office, which does give credence to the idea that Halo affected the domestic opening.
I thought The Heartbreak Kid was a fucking disgrace; the last 20 minutes were an embarrassment to everyone involved. Wretched.
And yes, Storymark, Crank did a damn nice job of creating a GTA-vibe. I just don’t get how Crank 2 makes ANY sense considering the first film’s finale…
“I just don’t get how Crank 2 makes ANY sense considering the first film’s finale…”
What, haven’t you read the synopsis they released? He was so pumped-up on adrenaline, that the fall from the helicopter only knocks him out.
Yeah, pretty retarded….
I’m about 10 hours into GTAIV and I have to say I find some of these comments hilariously ignorant. The game has as much plotline as 10 films, and has so many extra content dripping with creativity–16 or so radio stations with hilarious parody commercials and shows and 60 plus hours of music, fake television networks where I watched 2 hours of original programming so far. The GTA games get slammed for being violent, but anyone who’s played one though beginning to end–whcih takes around 40 hours I’m told IF you don’t do any of the extra missions–knows they’re as monumental works of fictional entertainment as any film.
As for it costing $60, with a night for two at the movies ringing in at around $30 (2 tickets, sodas, popcorn), $60 for 40-plus hours sounds pretty good to me.
I have read the Crank 2 synopsis but never read anywhere that due to all the adrenaline he’s just knocked out from the helicopter fall.
That’s just fucking stupid. Beyond retarded.
The first film, for all its over-the-top action idiocy, was still grounded in some sort of reality, however whacked out that reality was. I really loved the first Crank.
The Winchester: Have you seen the discrepancy between domestic and foreign box office for Heartbreak Kid? It’s inexplicable for a movie like that, and you seriously attribute it to nothing else besides Americans having more refined taste that particular week?
Geez, Mark. Were you on the Heartbreak Kid crew or something?
Bad movies performing better overseas is hardly a new event.
And if it’s such a huge discrepancy – can you honestly attribute it all to a video game? Ludicrous.
I enjoy the reading HE, but lately people on the board have just become too dismissive and contrarian. “Jeff, what a stupid point. You’re wrong for A, B, and C. ”
Along Came Polly was a garbage movie, but doubled the opening of Heartbreak Kid. The foreign grosses of both movies, however, were identical. But, alas, there’s no debate that something else was going on in the U.S. I’m just ludicrous.
There’s no form of entertainment that delivers more bang for the buck that computer/video games. For $60, even the average gamer will get 20+ hours of entertainment, and a lot of them will get hundreds or even thousands of hours.
Why does a game cost “as much as” $60? Gaming, like the movie industry, is very hit driven, and the AAA games like GTA4 have development teams of 60-150 people working for 3-4 years, often for 70+ hours/week. Console games also have to pay a sizable royalty to the system manufacturer (Microsoft and Sony in this case).
I completely agree that it’ll have almost no effect on box office though, any more than Halo 3 did despite claims to the contrary. It’s just an excuse to rationalize crappy box office performance, and it won’t even be needed this week since Iron Man will do just fine.